Air Force to Seek Increased Pay, Time Off to Avert Pilot Shortage

WASHINGTON —  The Air Force, facing a shortage of pilots next year, announced Tuesday that it will seek to raise pay, increase time off and even cancel some deployments to try to hold on to its expensively trained fliers.

If something isn’t done, the Air Force, which has about 13,500 pilots, said it will have a shortage of 359 next year.

Several factors are behind the exodus, officials said, including a surge in demand for commercial pilots, the stresses of frequent overseas deployments and disgruntlement at shrinking benefits.

The most alarming statistic: Only 31% of nine-year veterans are signing up to extend their service this year, compared to 81% as recently as 1994. The departures are bad news for taxpayers, who spend $5.9 million to train each pilot.

There are more than four times as many deployments as there were during the Cold War and pilots complain that their families struggle without them during those periods of separation.

At the same time, officials appearing at a Pentagon briefing acknowledged that the problem is partly one of expectations. While Navy personnel, for example, may spend more time away from home than their Air Force counterparts, they know six-month deployments far from home are part of the package when they enlist.

Officials said the Air Force is trying to shift expectations in recruiting, so that pilots will understand that the Air Force has an “expeditionary” role that requires regular missions throughout the world.

Pilots typically earn about $60,000 by the time they complete their ninth year, when they must decide whether to reenlist for another five years. Their signing bonus amounts to about $22,000 a year--a figure that has been shrunk sharply by inflation since it was last increased.

The pay former Air Force pilots receive in their first four years with commercial airlines is less than that, but by their 10th year out, they are earning about $140,000, compared to an average of slightly more than $80,000 in the Air Force, officials said.

The Air Force is planning to propose legislation that would raise the signing bonuses for pilots. Officials also plan to give pilots and crews one to two weeks off after foreign assignments, and want to reduce the mandatory reenlistment period, which is now five years.